One day I was travelling by Kalka Mail from Allahabad to Tundla. I started from Allahabad at 3 o'clock in the night. There was a great rush in the train. But somehow I managed to get a seat in the train.
The train started. It had hardly gone two kilometre when we felt a sudden jerk. I fell down upon a man who was sitting on the floor. e had just begun to rebuke me when another man also fell down, The next moment a box fell upon a woman and she became unconscious. In only a few moments men and bundles lay in disorder one upon another. The passengers had their head struck against the windows and other heavy things. I was also wounded. As soon s I was able to stand up, I realized the whole situation.
The train had collided against another train. My carriage was lying tilted on one side. I saw a lady was bathed in blood. But she was still breathing. I removed the boxes and bundles from her. I dragged her out. She was able to breathe freely. She opened her eyes and thanked me with eyes without speaking a word. I then helped a young man, to come out of bundles. A man under him had been almost crushed to death. He was filled with horror to see his wife's condition, but was thankful to God for saving her life.
We heard cries and moaning from every side. Some ladies were crying because their children were killed. A woman had lost her husband. Another was crying for her box. The piteous cries were heart-rending. I together with other young men, who had come out, decided to save as many lives as we could. We entered the compartment one by one and brought out those men and women who were still breathing.
We saw that four more carriages had been damaged and many passengers in them had lost their lives. Our engine was lying helplessly. We saw some wagons of the goods train lying. We learnt that our train had collided against a goods train, which was coming from the opposite direction. The drivers had tried to put brakes. But the meeting was so sudden that they could not stop the trains. The cause of this collision was that the pointman was drunk and by mistake had turned out train on the wrong line.
